


An Alternative Gambit

by Kalypso



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-01
Updated: 2006-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-25 16:08:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/955115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalypso/pseuds/Kalypso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jarriere turns down a job escorting a high-ranking Federation official to Freedom City, with unexpected results.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Alternative Gambit

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for the Freedom City Birthday Party of 2006, when the theme was "What If? - make one change to an episode & see what happens"

"So - any good jobs around, just now?" 

"Hang on a minute, let me check..." 

Jarriere smiled encouragingly at his viewscreen as Clemmi Bass, the sector co-ordinator, glanced through the latest requests for an independent contractor. 

 

"Oh, here's one that might interest you. High-ranking Federation official needs a bodyguard for a secret mission to Freedom City. Good money, she's got her own ship, and you'll be staying in the best hotel. She wants someone discreet, but you know the form; just look confused if she asks whether you're following the plot." 

Jarriere frowned. "Freedom City?" 

"I thought you liked it there? You know the ground and the likely threats well enough." 

"Och, aye, it doesn't sound difficult. But last time I was on Freedom City I beat a wee man at chess in the Big Wheel, and they never paid up." 

"Well, there you are. It's a chance to collect your winnings." 

He sighed. "When I said they never paid up... The proprietor tried to make out I was cheating. Just because he'd never seen Belkov's Gambit!" 

"Ah. You mean you're not very welcome on Freedom City?" 

He grinned ruefully. "I don't suppose they'd even remember me. But I don't like being called a cheat." 

"Oh well, never mind. I expect Bonnor will go; he likes a spin on the wheel now and then. How about assassinating the governor of Disentastra?" 

Jarriere's face brightened. "Now, that's more like it!" 

 

A few weeks later, he was hired to rescue a warlord's daughter - or maybe kidnap her, it depended whose story you believed, but the warlord was paying. It was a two-man job, and his partner turned out to be Bonnor. 

"So did you do the one on Freedom City?" he asked on the voyage out. 

Bonnor groaned. "Wish I'd never heard about it. We're chasing some one-eyed maniac, and Commander Whatsit tells me to put a grenade in his arm." 

"In his _arm_?" 

"Yes, it was a cyberthetic limb. Anyway, I noticed the grenade was faulty, so I fixed it, off he goes, and BOOM!" 

"Sounds good! What's the problem?" 

"Turns out the bomb was supposed to be a dud, and it was all a bit of play-acting to fool the Big Wheel boss who was listening in. I don't know, I never grasped the details, but she said I'd wrecked the plan and the guy she was really after got away. If she hadn't still needed a bodyguard, I think she'd have killed me then and there, but I managed to get her back to Federation space, and then I bolted. No pay, of course." 

Jarriere winced sympathetically, then glanced up as a steady beeping indicated debris ahead. "What's that? There shouldn't be anything out here." 

Bonnor peered into the screen. "There's a hell of a lot of it... like a ship's exploded? A battle, d'you think?" 

Jarriere shrugged and tugged at his earring. "Well... no one seems to be shooting now. But we'd better go to manual. Do you want the helm?" 

 

When they got there, the streets were in chaos, though it wasn't as bad as it looked at first. Most of the people running about were looters, soldiers fighting off looters, or soldiers looting what the looters had left behind, so it was reasonably straightforward to get through by showing absolutely no interest in loot. The good news was that, once they'd convinced her they really had come from her father, the girl seemed quite pleased to see them. With the fighting on the streets, it would probably have been easier than usual to carry an unconscious woman back to the ship without attracting attention, but a willing woman on her feet made things simpler. 

"I knew daddy would send someone to get me once he heard," she said as she finished undoing an impressive set of doorbolts. 

"Heard what, miss?" 

"About the Federation collapsing, of course!" 

Jarriere and Bonnor stared at each other. 

"You didn't know? How did you get through the spaceport?" 

"We didn't! We landed outside the city." 

"Oh, just as well - there are refugees fighting to get any sort of ship! The Federation's central computer system's been destroyed! Nothing works any more! They say it was Blake's gang that blew it up!" 

"Och, well," muttered Jarriere to Bonnor, "civil war's always good for business." 

 

And he was right; there was plenty of work in the coming months, though it was disconcerting how many of his targets started to dissolve into bubbling green broth when he shot them. But as long as they stayed dead, he wasn't going to complain. A job well done was all that mattered to Jarriere.


End file.
